When I heard
that my ZP brother, Gareth Spark was having a launch party for his new short
story collection, SNAKE FARM I immediately typed the words ‘up north’ into my car’s
satnav and hit the road. Some five hours later I arrived in Gareth’s hometown of
Whitby on the north east coast of the UK. What followed was an evening of Brit
Grit fiction, poetry and Scrumpy Jack Cider, with a little blues guitar thrown
in for good measure.
Chris Firth,
head honcho of Electraglade Press kicked things off. He was followed by and
local up and coming poet Sam Brewster who read superbly in spite of this being
her first time in the spotlight. Then it was time for the main event. Gareth
started off with some crime tales, including two of my favourite Spark shorts, ‘American
Tan’ and ‘Regal Kingsize’ before mixing it up a little with a western first
published on the now sadly defunct Big Adios site and rounding out with a gritty
horror. It’s fair to say he nailed all of them.
Hearing
Gareth read reminded me why I love short fiction. Distilling a whole story into
a couple of thousand words is a real skill. If it’s done well it can to blow
you away. Gareth Spark does it very well indeed. Go buy a copy of SNAKE FARM
and check that out for yourself.
Chris Firth,
head honcho of Electraglade Press kicked things off. He was followed by and
local up and coming poet Sam Brewster who read superbly in spite of this being
her first time in the spotlight. Then it was time for the main event. Gareth
started off with some crime tales, including two of my favourite Spark shorts, ‘American
Tan’ and ‘Regal Kingsize’ before mixing it up a little with a western first
published on the now sadly defunct Big Adios site and rounding out with a gritty
horror. It’s fair to say he nailed all of them. 